


Roll to seduce

by StarBoyBlue



Category: TOLKIEN J. R. R. - Works & Related Fandoms, The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Dungeons & Dragons References, Fili is a metal head, Fili is so into larping, Fluff, Frat Row, Heavy Metal, M/M, OC is a minor character, Slow Burn, The boys are all in bands, University of California Berkeley, dnd, rromance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-12
Updated: 2020-08-12
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:55:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,629
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25866298
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarBoyBlue/pseuds/StarBoyBlue
Summary: Fili couldn't decide what was worse, that his paladin had been knocked unconscious and prone, or that he couldn't seem to find the silver lining to catching feelings for a complete stranger.OR- Fili leads a perfectly simple- rock and roll life until a student from the apparel department becomes his group's 4th party member.NOTE: A little extension of the amazing universe built by @Objectlesson ! If you haven't already read her stories, please go do so. before reading this one!https://archiveofourown.org/users/objectlesson/pseuds/objectlesson
Relationships: Fíli/OC
Comments: 2
Kudos: 5





	Roll to seduce

**Author's Note:**

> OKAY! So this is a huge side project of mine, I have never written a cannon x OC story before since I've never been a huge fan of them myself! I have no idea if you all will like this and I will most likely only continue it if you do! So lemme know!
> 
> Oswald Hollybrook is the OC in this story and I have a reff for him here:https://www.instagram.com/p/CDkSU39DFOC/ although he will obviously come across a little differently in this universe!

Fili was a master at finding the simple joys in life. He could take a rainy day and turn it into the perfect excuse for a movie marathon in a drop of a metaphorical hat. Stubbed toes and paper cuts were no match for him, he could find the silver lining in absolutely any situation. 

“Well, at least we now know to scoot that dresser a few feet back!” He’d say as Dori might grip a slowly swelling bump on his toe. 

Or; “Hey look at that! An excuse to try out these kick-ass avengers band-aids!” He might exclaim to his brother nursing a slightly bleeding cut on his thumb. 

For Fili, there was always a brighter side to things and this mindset was something he prided himself on having mastered. Some might call it a coping mechanism, or some sort of denial- But Fili knew better. Being the older brother growing up in a less than perfect living situation, it was only natural for him to have to set an example. Fili knew that his mother loved him and his little brother, but he also knew that raising them had been hard on her. Thorin had been there to help, of course, the ever stoic uncle. He had been a sturdy and unmoving force in their life after Fili’s father had passed and it was probably thanks to him that the brothers hadn’t strayed off the straight and narrow. 

No matter how great a father figure Thorin had become for them though, Fili knew that he was still Kili’s first call. 

Fili loved his brother, Kili was his best friend and practical other half. Even with the age gap, Fili couldn’t remember a time when Kili wasn’t next to him, because the memories without him didn’t count- not when those which include him were so much better. Kili was the most important person in Fili’s life, next to Thorin and their mother and it was that pedestal he had placed him on that drove Fili to be better. 

High school had been the toughest, now that Fili really thought about it. High school, in general, is hard but especially when you’re trying to get over the loss of a parent. Kili had been horribly close to failing classes, even developing the mindset that he didn’t care. Fili wasn’t a straight-A student by any means, but he sure as hell wasn’t about to let his brother drop-out of high school when they were so close to leaving it. Together they spent hours after school, staying up and dragging each other through the heat of it. Studying sessions were more like boot camps, the stress, and anxiety of the overwhelming workload collapsing down around them. Through their grief, the brothers had effectively procrastinated their school work to near death and had barely been able to drag it back from the grave. In the end, though, they did it, and Fili was able to watch his brother walk across the stage and gather up his highschool diploma into his gangly arms. 

Fili had developed the ‘silver lining’ mindset during the latest hours of those rough nights. When “one more page” turned into the rest of the book, Kili would look at him with desperate eyes. 

“Look, you know how to do this! We practiced this yesterday!” Fili would say with a smile and Kili would nod, the extra work paying off in the end. Things always had a bright side to Fili because he would make sure he found it, and if there truly wasn’t one, he would make one. He thought of it more like a game of catch with the world, spotting the problem as it came hurtling towards him and expertly reaching out to grab it- securing it safely within his palm.

Of course, the world would occasionally throw Fili a curveball every now and again. The pent up anger and confusion from all of the school stress was something Fili almost couldn’t handle. Both he and Kili had become victims of temper issues, something they had apparently picked up from their grandfather. Truth be told, it had been Thorin who had really been the hero in that situation. It was thanks to him, during their childhood, that Fili and Kili had come to appreciate the genres of hard rock and it was after his suggestion that the brothers picked up playing. Music had truly saved them that time, giving them an outlet to channel their anger, their slowly ebbing madness. 

Fili looks back on it now and notices how the added teenage hormones probably had a lot to do with it but hey- “ebbing madness” was already one of their favorite album names so he let it slide. 

Kili had still credited him with the save though, claiming that it had been his influence that had pushed him to give music a chance and Fili was fine with that. No matter who got the credit, Kili was here with him, happy. That’s all that mattered to Fili because, in the end, that was his very own silver lining. 

Bilbo had been an interesting catch, that was for sure. Fili could remember eyeing the small English man down from their side of the table the night Bilbo had first met the whole house. Fili had never considered himself to be a judgy person by any means but everything about the small, soft, well mannered looking gentleman before them had put him off. Tricky bastard, the universe, underhanding this ball instead of chucking it straight at his head. Luckily, the Englishman had quickly proven himself to be much more than entertaining and now Fili was glad he had saved Bilbo from Kili’s early murder attempt. 

Yes, he had gotten pretty damn good at catching the insane pitches that the world had in store for him, so much so that hardly anything surprises him at this point. Overhand, underhand, Fili was sure he could handle anything.

“We might have to cancel this campaign I’m afraid” 

Fili’s eyes snapped up from fiddling around with his latest ‘sabaton’ patch, which was already falling off his jacket and glared at the older man across the table from him.

“What!? Why?” He asked. Oin looked up from his manual and sighed, flipping through his binder and looking over the hundreds of pages containing game notes. 

“Because I wrote the combat for four players and Kili’s hippie friend hasn’t been here for weeks,” The older man said, gesturing over to here Kili was busy smiling down at his phone. Fili looked at Oin, the elder raising his eyebrows back at him before Fili rolled his eyes and jabbed his little brother in the ribs.

“Ah- Hey!” Kili exclaimed, clutching his phone before it could fall from his hands. 

“Get off of TikTok and pay attention please!” Fili countered, to which Kili narrowed his eyes, straightening his clothes. 

“I’m not on TikTok! I’m texting Tauriel” He said in a ‘matter of fact’ kind of way. He placed his phone on the table before messing around with his dice “What’s the big deal anyway?” 

“Where is what’s his name? He hasn’t come to play for three sessions now!” Oin said, glaring at the younger brother over the edge of his cardboard separator. The water-color dragons that decorated its surface seemed to add a bit more malice to his eyes. 

“Who, Darek? I dunno man!” Kili said, raising his hands defensively as Oin leaned forward in his seat “I haven't even seen him on campus recently, pretty sure he ditched” 

Kili shrugged and Kili got this distinct impression that he wasn't taking this as seriously as everyone else. Fili had gotten over blaming his little brother for his lack of appreciation for DnD. After all, it was an acquired taste and Fili had just assumed that Kili only played to feel included. That wasn't to say that Kili didn't have his fair share of hilarious in-game moments, but “roll to seduce” seemed to be his answer to everything and Fili really hated hearing his brother Rp making out with every NPC they came across. 

Fili secretly missed the times when Thorin used to play with them. Fili loved spending time with his uncle in general, but the man was an incredible role player. Thorin would be able to carry on dialog for hours in character, getting himself completely into the headspace of a medieval adventure. It was no surprise to anyone in the house how dorky Thorin could get when it came to the topic of fantasy novels and boy- Fili admired him for it. He even took Fili to a larping event once, truth be told it had kinda sucked- what with the majority of participants just there to drink- but Fili had enjoyed it nonetheless. 

“Well, I can’t promise all of ya’ will survive this session without a fourth party member. Not my fault that some hippie kid dropped out on ya” Oin sighed, shaking his head as he shuffled his notes. 

“I can play doubles this round” Ori, who had been quietly doodling in his sketchbook up until now, spoke up from his seat next to Fili. The older brother turned and looked at him, watching as he pulled an already prepared character sheet from his binder.

“Ori, no, you always pick up the slack,” Fili said, placing a hand on his shoulder to stop him “Here, let me this time” 

“Oh no you don’t Fi,” Ori turned to him and shook his head “Your paladin is so close to discovering the roots of his amnesia! You can't distract yourself from that plotline just to play catch up” 

Fili felt his heart squeeze at the consideration his friend was showing him, leave it to Ori to keep track of Fili’s character arcs. 

“My monk will be fine with taking a backseat, I promise” Ori continued as he sharpened his pencil, laying out both sheets in front of him. Fili wanted to disagree, wanted to take the fall somehow but he couldn't think of a reasonable excuse. It was true, he had really been looking forward to this session. 

“Alright, but I’m making it up to you,” He said and Ori shot him a thumbs up, pulling at the hood of his cosplay cloak that he liked to wear during their game sessions. Fili often came adorned in something of his own, usually a crown or the pair of bracers that he had made.  
“Alright then, are we ready to proceed?” Oin asked, eyeing Kili who was back on his phone. Fili glared at him before Kili’s eyes flashed up and he apologetically tucked the device into his pocket. 

“Okay- that time I was on TikTok” He admitted, shoving a handful of Cheetos into his mouth before diverting all of his attention back onto Oin. 

“Okay! So last we left off, you three-four- had just arrived at king larthuol’s castle” Oin began, pressing play on the boombox he had set up on a stool next to him. An eerie soundtrack of distant thunderclaps filtered through the speakers and Fili felt the hair on his arms stand up. He wasn't ashamed to admit that he loved this, the thrill of embarking on a fantasy adventure through complex role-play and strategic game mechanics. Dungeons and Dragons was fun, dorky, and unbelievably cheesy, but oh so terribly fun. 

It didn't help his addiction that Fili had Oin as a DM either. The man was a legend, having been a player of the game for what seemed like a lifetime. Oin knew every generation of DnD front to back, going so far as to develop his very own set of complex home-brew rules. This made playing with other groups a little difficult after having played with Oin for so long, but Fili hardly cared. He preferred Oin’s style to the classic anyway, the man was such a word-smith and an amazingly talented storyteller. Through his words, the hours of the nightfall away into months out on the road- crossing burning plains and glaciers on the road towards adventure. Together, he and Ori and Kili scoured through endless towers, defeated hordes of the damned, and trekked through caverns of lava. They evaded the evil king’s traps and laid to waste his armies before finally- around close to 1 AM- they entered the throne room. 

“Larthuol stares you directly in the eyes and shouts ‘you! I know you!’” Oin said, his voice morphing a little the further the illusion that in this moment, he was in fact an evil king. Fili tensed, their eyes locking as the role-play got more and more intense. 

“He knows you!?” Ori asked, getting into too as the boom-box swirled up what sounded like a windstorm. 

“How!? How do you know me- that's impossible!” Fili yelled, the beads in his mustache smacking the end of his chin as he leaned forward against the table. 

“Haha! Foolish mortal, you do not remember?” Oin- or in this case- Larthuol taunted and Fili grit his teeth for added effect. Over 2 months of character building had been leading up to this point, the reveal of Fili’s Paladin's past. Fili had been hard at work creating his backstory days before their first session, Oin tactically crafting an entire story arc around it over a several month time span. He had played out this scenario in his head hundreds of times up until now and tonight, it was actually happening. 

“Silence! Your words are venom!” Fili said, slamming a hand down onto the table and dragging a dry laugh forth from Larthuol’s throat. 

“You know nothing! Perhaps I shall remind you-” Oin rose his hand and let his magic fly, the dull thud of the cast iron dice against the table echoing through the room “Through pain!” 

Fili braced himself, his eyes scanning over his hit points and armor class- hoping- praying that whatever spell that the dark king would cast, would miss. 

“Oh hey!” Kili suddenly said, waving a hand in front of Fili’s face and effectively killing the tension with his goofy grin. Fili’s fists, which had been clenching for close to ten minutes now, sought to unleash their fury on his little brother’s shoulder. Kili didn't even seem bothered which only helped fuel Fili’s frustration. 

“What!?” Fili and Ori both asked in unison. 

“Tauriel has found us a fourth player!” He said happily. Fili relaxed then, blinking as Kili kept a watchful eye on his incoming messages. 

“Really, who?” He asked.

“Some guy she knows from apparel named Oswald, seems cool!” Kili responded, all too eagerly shoving his phone in his brother’s face. Fili’s face scrunched up at the brightness as he took the phone from Kili’s hand. 

What he saw was the sight of what appeared to be Kili’s girlfriend happily smiling up at the camera next to a smaller boy. He was very soft in the face, big round glasses perched on the end of his button nose with the cutest dimples accenting his smile. Powdered freckles dusted his cheeks and to top it off, he had brilliant strawberry blond hair. His eyes were closed in a toothy smile so Fili couldn't see what color they were but he didn't need to know- the damage had already been done. 

“Does a 31 hit?” Oin asked from across the table and Fili could only nod in response, the fate of the paladin being sealed in one move- along with his heart. He stared blankly at the screen, feeling his pulse start to hammer in his ears. Fili couldn't decide what was worse, that his paladin had been knocked unconscious and prone, or that he couldn't seem to find the silver lining to catching feelings for a complete stranger.


End file.
